Top Ten Day in Hyeres - In or Out?

by Corinne McKenzie on 27 Apr 2007
It was expected since the start of the regatta. The Easterly wind with his strength and waves finally arrived providing exciting racing for all sailors in Hyères. Friday in Hyeres is Medal Race Day and only the top ten from each event will take part in the final push for the podium.

With the change of conditions, different sailors were finally able to bring better results after a week favouring the lighter sailors.

In the Yngling class the three Dutch teams made it to the top ten and qualified for the medal race. In 5th position, the boat NED 11 of Mulder/Bes/Hendriksen enjoyed the strong wind winning the first race and placing 5 in the second race won by team mates Renee Groeneveld, Brechtje Van de Mer and Marion Kooistra who narrowly slip in the top 10.

After a slow start to the regatta the British boats helmed by the Athens Gold medallists Sarah Ayton and Shirley Robertson gained a few places in 2nd and 6th. Early regatta leader, Vicoria and Emma Rawlinson and Sue Monson (GBR) missed on the Medal race cut, in 11th position. The Russians Skudina/Krutskikh/Ivanova are still leading the fleet after consistent racing.

Three British teams have secured a place in the 49ers Medal race. Chris Draper and Simon Hiscocks are still in command. The 2005 World champions Luka Rodion and Georgii Leonchuk from Ukraine won the last race. The 2004 Athens Gold medallists, Martinez/Hernandez (ESP) take the last place in the Medal Race.

The Australians showed their ease in the breeze in the Laser classes.

Title holder Tom Slingsby comes back in contention after taking two bullets today that place him in fifth place overall. His team mate Michael Blackburn stays in first position despite scoring some of his worse results. In second place is Swedish Johan Wigforss who keeps a clear lead from his direct opponents. The third place remains open for most of the top ten and tomorrow final race promises some interesting tactical racing.

With a second drop coming into play, the results within the top three remain unchanged in the Laser Radial as in the 470 men and women. Petra Niemann from Germany and Australian Sarah Blank win a race each in the Laser Radial. While it is enough to bring the Australian into the medal race, the German is missing by just a few points.

In the Men 470, three French teams have managed the Medal race selection and are place among the top 5.

They have proved today they like it strong! Dutch teams have been dominating the competition in many classes. Double World Champions Marcelien de Koning and Lobke Berkhout put their effort in the windy races today winning them both. Unfortunately for the Miami winners it wasn’t enough to take them into the top ten and they miss the medal race by only one point!

Peter-Jan Postma was luckier in the Finn races. After collecting two bullets the young Dutch is placing 7th overall. Jonas Hoegh-Christensen (DEN) is conserving the lead after scoring a second and a third.

Twenty year old Giles Scott (GBR) is taking the last place in the Medal Race. After a difficult start into the regatta, the 2005 ISAF Youth World Champion is making a good transition from the Laser to the Finn, after only a few months in the class.

Mitch Booth and Pim Nieuwenhuis have suffered all week with the light conditions. They win their last race in the Tornado enjoying finally some good breeze.

The placing are changing among the top 10, the higher improvers are the Italian Francesco Marcolini and Edoado Bianchi climbing in to 3rd place. The Canadian are untouchable with a 23 points lead over the fleet.

Big lead as well in the RS:X for Tom Ashley. Shahar Zubari (ISR) has improved to second place in front of 3 French windsurfers Julien Bontemps, Samuel Launay and Nicolas Huguet.

Casper Bouman (NED) is finally performing after winning the last race of the event he had won so easily in previous years. The strong breeze called the end of Yin Jian domination in the RS:X women dropping to third place. Bryony Shaw (GBR) and Blanca Manchon (ESP) are now in command.

The Medal races will be scheduled Friday from 11Am to 2.15PM in 3 zones in front of the pier, providing good view of racing.

Overall leading results after racing Thursday:

RS:X Men
Overall general ranking after 9 races and before jury hearing.

1: Ashley Tom (17 pts) New Zealand (Détail courses : 4,2,1,4,2,3,1,28,)
2: Zubari Shahar (41 pts) Israel (Détail courses : 11,1,14,1,2,8,4,14,)
3: Launay Samuel (42 pts) Ass Caledonienne P.A.V (Détail courses : 12,1,4,2,5,9,12,9,)
4: Bontemps Julien (43 pts) France (Détail courses : 5,12,1,1,6,2,16,21,)
5: Huguet Nicolas (47 pts) France (Détail courses : 9,7,5,7,6,10,8,5,)
6: Ho Chi Ho (60 pts) Hong Kong (Détail courses : 2,3,21,2,1,4,33,27,)
7: Pastor Ivan (61 pts) Spain (Détail courses : 10,6,21,10,5,20,7,3,)
8: Yuanguo Zhou (64 pts) China (Détail courses : 2,9,8,5,4,11,39,25,)
9: Chan King Yin (67 pts) Hong Kong (Détail courses : 4,2,3,4,1,1,54,52,)
10: Maksym Oberemko (71 pts) Ukraine (Détail courses : 12,7,24,14,18,5,3,12,)

RS:X Women
Overall general ranking after 9 races and before jury hearing.

1: Shaw Bryony (18 pts) Great Britain (Détail courses : 2,1,1,3,2,25,5,6,4,)
2: Manchon Blanca (24 pts) Spain (Détail courses : 2,1,2,2,8,DNF ,6,10,3,)
3: Jian Yin (25 pts) China (Détail courses : 1,6,1,1,1,1,15,14,28,)
4: Picon Charline (35 pts) France (Détail courses : 3,3,10,8,5,8,7,1,13,)
5: Staalstrom Jannicke (37 pts) Norway (Détail courses : 18,14,7,6,4,3,9,3,5,)
6: Mingli Duan (42 pts) China (Détail courses : 8,9,3,4,1,2,17,15,19,)
7: Alabau Marina (42 pts) Spain (Détail courses : 4,5,12,3,10,14,1,7,12,)
8: Merret Faustine (44 pts) France (Détail courses : 8,2,3,1,3,9,nc,24,18,)
9: Olga Maslivets (48 pts) Ukraine (Détail courses : 5,10,9,4,3,12,8,22,9,)
10: Limei Sun (49 pts) China (Détail courses : 7,2,5,10,7,6,21,12,17,)

49er
Overall general ranking after 11 races and before jury hearing.

1: Draper Chris / Hiscocks Simon (42 pts) Grande-Bretagne (Détail courses : 9,18,2,3,1,3,27,2,9,9,4,)
2: Baur Marcus / Baumann Hannes (53 pts) Germany (Détail courses : 7,12,5,2,4,5,13,31,3,2,26,)
3: Delle Karth Nico Luca M / Resch Nikolaus Le (56 pts) Austria (Détail courses : 15,BFD ,30,7,4,1,4,7,4,5,9,)
4: Morrison Stevie / Rhodes Ben (69 pts) Great Britain (Détail courses : 1,3,1,25,10,14,18,4,17,13,6,)
5: Hansen Peter / Hansen Soren (70 pts) Denmark (Détail courses : 21,4,6,5,7,10,6,37,8,22,3,)
6: Rodion Luka / Georgii Leonchuk (71 pts) Ukraine (Détail courses : 13,1,12,12,3,13,5,18,11,16,1,)
7: Pink John / Wheeler Simon (74 pts) Great Britain (Détail courses : 5,18,1,1,2,9,34,1,DNF ,23,14,)
8: Sibello Pietro / Sibello Gianfranco (75 pts) Italy (Détail courses : 1,20,24,1,1,3,1,27,1,DNF ,23,)
9: Peckolt Jan Peter / Peckolt Hannes (76 pts) Germany (Détail courses : 5,12,13,2,12,17,9,12,2,11,11,)
10: Martinez de Iker / Fernandez Xabier (78 pts) Spain (Détail courses : 13,2,3,14,18,23,3,23,15,8,2,)

470 Femmes / Women
Overall general ranking after 9 races and before jury hearing.

1: Conti Giulia / Micol Giovanna (31 pts) Italy (Détail courses : 1,2,2,5,3,7,47,11,31,)
2: Rothweiler Stefanie / Kussatz Vivien (37 pts) Germany (Détail courses : 12,5,3,4,7,9,2,17,7,)
3: Petitjean Ingrid / Douroux Nadege (55 pts) Societe Nautique de Marseille (Détail courses : 2,8,53,8,16,2,13,29,6,)
4: Smidova Lenka / Fenclova Veronika (71 pts) Czech Republic (Détail courses : 21,35,5,10,19,4,44,4,8,)
5: Lecointre Camille / Lemaitre Gwendolyn (78 pts) France (Détail courses : 7,18,12,11,33,6,9,15,47,)
6: Kondo Ai / Kamata Naoko (83 pts) Japan (Détail courses : 11,40,25,12,30,8,15,3,9,)
7: Yoshisako Yuka / Okuma Noriko (84 pts) Japan (Détail courses : 14,49,15,26,25,11,8,6,5,)

6: Gallego Marina / Echegoyen Tamara (85 pts) Spain (Détail courses : 31,16,32,9,4,47,1,9,15,)
9: Rechichi Elise / Parkinson Tessa (93 pts) Australia (Détail courses : 6,14,3